As promised last week, we spend the entire episode talking about technology in the classroom, from both the teacher and student perspective.

There is a lot that Jeremy would like to see happen in the classroom, and the current technology can certainly improve. I ask, why don’t schools invest more in their own tools? Why rely on third parties like Blackboard to deliver solutions that don’t work for teachers or students?

A school like Lehigh, where Jeremy teaches, has the resources and talent to build a robust solution that is really catered to the school’s needs. Why not make their own software to help facilitate learning? Or partner with like-minded institutions?

We also discuss what kind of technology students should bring to college. And is it appropriate to take notes with a laptop in class? Opinions differ!

Text on a non-Retina iPad versus a Retina iPad. Sharper text is much easier on the eye and much more pleasurable for reading.

The Retina iPad doesn’t just look aesthetically better — it works better.

The ultimate expression of design is how something works, and by that measure the Retina iPad is much better designed than older ones, despite looking identical when turned off. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen said in an interview that the Retina iPad’s display will cause people to use the device more because it’s a more enjoyable user experience, particularly for reading text.

Nielsen highlighted the crispness of typography on the Retina iPad. He said the higher resolution display really impacts both reading speed and eyestrain, two issues that plague other consumer-grade computer monitors. Two issues that also have caused people to shy away from reading longer-form content on computers.

“All commercially available computer screens have all had bad typography,” he said. “For the entire history of computers we’ve always suffered under reduced reading speed and increased eyestrain compared to print.”

Retina Displays are Apple’s term for hiDPI displays (dots per inch). These are displays with significantly more pixels per inch than displays had just a few years ago. First smartphones received more pixels and more than 300 DPI is fairly common in flagship smartphones. In 2012 we saw tablets get significantly more pixels, sometimes four times or more pixels than models from just a year earlier. We’re beginning to see hiDPI displays make it up into laptop computers, and we’re not far away from desktop displays getting hiDPI displays.

Gary Heiting, OD, and associate editor of AllAboutVision.com said in an email that eyestrain is a primary component of computer vision syndrome. Heiting said eyestrain and computer vision syndrome symptoms include burning, stinging eyes; red eyes; dry eyes and/or watery eyes; increased sensitivity to light; intermittent or constant blurred vision or double vision (that resolves after resting the eyes); difficulty changing focus (from your computer screen to across the room, or even from the computer to printed material or other objects on your desk); seeing “afterimages” or color fringes around objects when looking away from your computer screen; and (frequently) headache.

Nielsen explained that traditional computer displays don’t have enough pixels per inch to properly display text, resulting in coarser typography where character shapes and forms don’t differentiate and stand out enough. Serifs and curves are not as clean as they are supposed to be (or how print typography looks). Because the shapes and forms of the individual letters are harder to make out than printed text, this causes us to spend more time on each letter and word, slowing us down and causing eye fatigue.

Our eyes have to work harder to read text on a computer monitor than they do a newspaper. Even if we don’t perceive it while we are reading, we feel it in fatigue eyes and a lack of desire to read long text on computer monitors.

Many people print out long articles rather than read them on a computer monitor, Nielsen said. The Retina iPad and some of the other hiDPI tablets that have been released are finally changing that.

“This is the first time in history we’ve had a computer that actually provides the same word-for-word readability as print,” Nielsen said. “That’s unprecedented.”

Heiting said the focusing demands on the eyes are lessened by the Retina iPad, more closely approximating the experience of reading a printed book.

“Because of its high resolution display, the iPad reduces or eliminates the eye’s perception of light/dark borders between pixels, which is the cause of focusing (accommodative) fatigue — a major (arguable the major) cause of computer eye strain,” Heiting said.

The Retina iPad features 264 pixels per inch (list of display PPIs here). The first two iPads were 132 PPI. Apple’s best-selling laptop, the 13-inch Macbook Air, is 128 PPI. The standard 15-inch Macbook Pro is 110 PPI, and the 27-inch iMac is 109 PPI. The new 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro is 220 PPI.

It’s important to note that the farther away you sit from a device, the less PPI that is required. Your HDTV most likely has a PPI well under 100, but it looks great from 10 feet away on your couch (here is a PPI calculator to figure out what the PPI is of your computer monitors and TVs). The mark of whether or not a display is “Retina” quality is whether or not you can make out individual pixels from a normal operating distance.

Apple considers both the Retina iPad and the iPhone 4/4S/5 Retina Displays, despite the fact that the iPhones have a higher PPI at 326. While a 27-inch monitor that you sit two feet or so away from doesn’t need the same PPI as a tablet or a smartphone to look good, it does need significantly better than 109 PPI to come close to the crispness of typography on the Retina iPad or the kind of crispness that is easier on the eyes. A 27-inch monitor would most likely need more than 200 DPI to be Retina class, which would require a considerable amount of computing power to run — beyond what even most higher-end laptops and desktops ship with.

Up to 50 percent of computer workers experience eye strain during or after work, Heiting said. With smartphones, tablets and computers at home and at the office, we’re staring at computer screens more than ever.

“Increased screen resolutions — not just for smart phones and tablets — could have a very significant impact,” he said.

Nielsen expects that one day all consumer computer monitors will have higher pixel densities. Smartphones and now tablets are leading that charge because of their smaller displays, but Apple has begun shipping hiDPI monitors in their MacBook Pro line. In the next few years, we’ll see hiDPI monitors at larger, desktop resolutions.

Nielsen doesn’t expect big monitors to get high pixel densities for a few years, perhaps up to five more. Not only is it more expensive to ship larger displays with lots of pixels, it takes more CPU and GPU computing power to power the displays.

It’s not just reading that is affected by having a better display. Anything that is done on a computer would be affected.

“With a high resolution screen you can get more work done,” Nielsen said. “It’s not just for reading, it’s also for analyzing spreadsheets and any office work. For any kind of knowledge work it really pays off in increased productivity for employers by giving their employees better tools.”

The Retina iPad and future higher resolution displays offer exciting possibilities for news producers. People will be reading more.

“Better hardware leads to simply more words being consumed, which means more engagement with the content,” Nielsen said.

Chris Mueller, art director for Vanity Fair, said that the Retina Display really improves text and images on the Vanity Fair iPad app.

“The type is much more crisp, which helps legibility for smaller elements and improves the reading experience greatly,” he said. “Photos now have an HD quality with incredible detail and radiant color. The overall difference is notable and it really enhances the way the magazine looks on a device.”

The display on the Retina iPad has been compared to glossy magazine print. Journalism can look really good on it, in a way that journalism doesn’t look in other tablets and computers.

“The Retina Display means everything is sharper and easier to read,” said Greg Clayman, publisher of The Daily. “The overall high-quality of the display looks more like crisp paper – it’s a pleasure to look at for long periods of time.”

3D printing is going to be one of the next big things in computing and manufacturing. We delve deeply into this. We also discuss some of the darker implications of 3D printing. Could you print a gun at home?

We also discuss the expected demise of The Daily. This doesn’t mean that tablet, iPad or non-print journalism can’t work. It just means The Daily couldn’t work.

This leads us into a discussion of The Magazine, which is an iPad-only news publication that is making money.

That’s the gist that Slashdot is going with anyway, but I remain unconvinced that a laptop, especially one that isn’t convertible into a touch tablet, is much of competitor of a tablet.

People buy tablets because they want tablets, not because they want laptops. I have a Chromebook, and it’s OK, but it’s no competitor to my iPad (and certainly not competitor to my Macbook Pro). The only conceivable way that a Chromebook could be a competitor for a tablet is in the sense of a relatively cheap, light and portable computing device.

But wasn’t that supposed to be netbooks before this? I don’t see many people arguing for them anymore.

I stand by my previous statements that I believe ChromeOS is still best focused for business users. If your work is all in the cloud, and you don’t need desktop apps, ChromeOS is fast, efficient, reliable and largely secure. If your work has bought into the cloud and Web apps, ChromeOS is a very compelling business OS.

It just doesn’t work well for creative types who need powerful video, photo, audio, graphic, etc. software. Or for business people who need the full power of Excel (although Google Docs spreadsheets are good enough for most users).

I think ChromeOS could also be a good solution for someone who wants a laptop form factor at home and doesn’t need anything other than a Web browser. There are definitely people and uses that make sense for ChromeOS and Chromebooks.

But tablets, particularly the market-leading iPad, are much more than a lightweight and portable way to browse the Web. The iPad has some pretty great games on it. It also makes for a good way to watch movies, either lounging around or on the go. The iPad is also the best reading device I’ve ever owned, and the tablet form factor makes a lot more sense than a clambshell laptop for reading.

There has been a big push to digitize textbooks, add in more interactivity and make them available in new ways. But is the concept of the textbook itself fading?

I’m taking two courses currently in graduate school. One has a standard textbook that is only available in paper format. The other has no textbooks and all the readings are either websites or PDFs. We’re clearly in a transitory phase, but I think the future is clear: packaged textbooks are on the way out.

Class readings, however, on a desktop or even a laptop don’t present a good user experience. We’re used to and enjoy the experience of reading books and textbooks. We’re used to the crisp typography. People can get lost in books for hours.

How many people really enjoy reading a 30-page PDF on their computer? A paper textbook wins that contest every time, even if the content is identical. You can’t just lay back and enjoy reading on a laptop like you can with a paper textbook, and most laptops are much harder on the eyes than print. We can’t underestimate how much harsher traditional computing displays are on the human eye than print is.

But we now have better options than our computing forefathers. I do my course readings on my iPad. It’s high pixel density display looks very similar to print, and is easy on the eyes. It’s a pleasure to use for long-form reading, and I can carry many textbooks worth of information in a small package.

Using an app like Instapaper, I can save the Web and journal articles to read later and throw them into a folder to keep them all together. I also have a device that allows me to look up further information while I’m reading. If I come across something in a paper textbook that I don’t understand, there isn’t much I can do. On my iPad, I can get out of my readings and search the Web for answers.

Journal articles are increasingly found online, professors and researchers are starting blogs and websites and academic-focused projects are popping up all over the Web. Where once textbooks were required for learning in most subjects, the Web and the Internet give us access to information from all over the world, across disciplines and cultures.

Professors can mix and match journal articles, blog posts, podcasts, news stories, etc. to form an up-to-date curriculum. They can easily add in new readings during the semester if something comes up. The idea of a textbook being out of date doesn’t apply in a world where professors can pick and choose from the best of the Web.

As education becomes more expensive, we can’t forget the savings to students. The textbook industry is a racket that sees students pay hundreds of dollars per semester on books and get back tens of dollars after the semester is over.

The Web is full of great free resources. It’s easier for a professor to start a Website than it is to write a textbook. It’s also a lot easier to get feedback and iterate with a website than it is with a textbook.

Tablets and smartphones are helping to make this a reality in a way that wasn’t possible five years ago. Laptops aren’t good enough. They’re not great for long-form reading. The iPad with Retina Display is, and we’ll see more high pixel density displays on the horizon that help make reading on computing devices a lot more pleasurable.

One of the things that I really like about using Web readings for teaching is these readings allow students to interact with authors. A professor who makes blog posts instead of book chapters can allow people to comment on his work. Students can poke and prod and the professor can respond. Textbooks will never offer that experience.

Now imagine a student asked to read five different blog posts from five different professors from around the world. In one week, a student has the ability to interact with five different experts. Blogs, websites and social media allow for a kind of free-flowing interactivity that can bring vigor to the learning experience.

We needed better, more portable and more readable devices to make this happen. Now that we are finally starting to see them, I believe we’ll see a lot more professors and teachers assigning students Web readings. As students take to this kind of reading, we’ll see more professors writing blog posts instead of book chapters.

Maybe the next step to taking the Web reading experience to the next level is for someone to make an app that allows students to group Web readings and journal articles together by g\class and project, while also allowing for easy social annotations. The biggest thing missing from Web readings is that Web browsers don’t allow for notes and highlighting. Let’s make this happen.

Rands in Repose has a post comparing learning how to play the popular game Portal to learning how to use Photoshop.

One of them requires no manual and the other a lifetime to master (or a lifetime of looking up how to do things again):

The plethora of online Photoshop tutorials demonstrate its power and its flexibility, but I believe they also demonstrate its poor design. Think about it like this: what if each time you plunked down in front of World of Warcraft, you had to spend an hour trying to remember, wait, how do I play this?

Great design makes learning frictionless. The brilliance of the iPhone and iPad is how little time you spend learning. Designers’ livelihood is based on how quickly and cleverly they can introduce to and teach a user how a particular tool works in a particular universe. In one universe, you sport a handheld Portal gun that cleverly allows you to interrupt physics. In a slightly different universe, you have this tool called a cloning stamp that empowers you to sample and copy any part of a photo.

Computers and software aren’t new. There should be a certain amount of intuitiveness and discoverability to software. If experienced computer users constantly find themselves frustrated with your software, the issue probably lies with you.

However, sometimes non-discoverable gestures and commands make us more productive. I don’t think the mark of great design is always how little time it takes to learn how to use something. Some things inherently take time to master and learn.

Anyone who knows how to drive a manual transmission can tell you that driving an automatic is certainly easier to do and more discoverable. Any idiot can figure out to put the transmission into the D for drive position.

A manual transmission offers a much higher level of control over a car. It gives the driver more feedback, and is more pleasurable to use. But the learning curve is much steeper.

I would never say, however, that driving an automatic transmission is a superior experience. It’s simply the easier route. The thing is, eventually you figure out how to drive a manual transmission really well and you start to do things that you simply can’t do with an automatic transmission.

Computers aren’t cars, however, and there has to be a balance between being able to pick up a piece of software and quickly use it and being able to do powerful things with it. Simple hotkeys like control-c and control-v aren’t discoverable, but they are invaluable to those of us who work with text for a living.

I could not imagine using a windowing operating system without hotkeys, which make us more productive and faster, while putting less strain on our bodies. The beauty of a modern windowing OS such as Windows 7 or OS X Lion is that there are multiple ways to get tasks done.

Anyone can move a mouse around, click on things and fumble there way through a computer. Others learn the hotkeys and install programs like Alfred that help get even more done with the keyboard.

The iPad has taken ease-of-use and discoverability to a whole new level. An iPad makes using a Mac feel like using an IBM PC from the 1980s. The big challenge for the iPad and other tablets is find ways to mix in power-user features that help make experienced computer users more productive.

The iPad supports gestures like the four-finger swipe to go between apps that is faster than the standard switching model. There is also the hand-close swipe to get back to the homescreen. I would expect to see more of these gestures that help power users move around faster. This video of a proposed way to highlight and select text on an iPad is the perfect example of a feature that shouldn’t replace the default text selection behavior but would really aid power users.

Getting back to the post in question, I find Photoshop too much for my needs. The program has too many features, costs too much money and feels too bloated to me (I can’t stand how long it takes to load compared to newer graphics editing programs). I’m perfectly happy using Pixelmator for my graphic design needs. It’s much cheaper, runs much faster and is easy to use for the tasks that I need to accomplish.

The biggest knock on Pixelmator and similar apps is that they try too much to be like Photoshop. The more they distance themselves from Photoshop and find ways to make graphic design easier, the better. If people want a Photoshop experience, they’ll for the real thing.

The tension between discoverability and powers users is not going away any time soon. With easier to use and more-locked down devices, that tension is only growing.

My iPad’s primary function has always been as my reading device. I read and skim headlines in Reeder, I use Instapaper to catch up on articles I came across during the day, I read ebooks in iBooks, and I read Wiredand The New Yorker in their respective apps.

Ironically, the worst reading experiences are with the apps designed by the “professionals” that are based on the age-old history of reading in print: Apple’s own iBooks, and the Condé Nast apps. The best reading experiences on the iPad are Instapaper and Reeder. In part because they are easy to keep up-to-date, but also because their designs have the least amount of frilly bits, and therefore make reading of the actual text the easiest.

I’ve noticed this too. Instapaper makes for a great reading experience of blog posts, news articles, and especially long-form journalism (and is a must have for all iPad owners). Reeder is also a gem, and my favorite RSS reeder. I also enjoy reading a lot in the Kindle app, and the iBooks app has changed a bit since Blanc origianlly wrote his piece (it now goes full screen and allows you to get lost in the words).

Apps from professional publishers — those who used to define what the reading experience was all about — are often the worst. The iPad isn’t a physical book, newspaper or magazine, and the harder you try to make an app mimic a physical product, the worse that app will be.

I have yet to use a news app that is better than a good news website. These apps silo their stories into individual issues, make them hard to share and comment on, exist within a vacuum without prior or future issues and require you to download discrete issues.

You can’t search for related stories while using an iPad news app. To me, that’s a broken news experience in 2012.

That doesn’t mean news publishers should give up. They just need to let themselves be free. Make a news product that feels right today; forget about the past.

The iPad is THE reading device. I simply can’t put it down. There is so much to read and discover with it.

I have a third-generation iPad with the Retina Display and 32 GB of storage. I have the wifi-only model since I’m either on wifi a lot or the times that I’m not, I’d prefer to just use my iPhone to create a wireless network. I don’t really need multiple wireless Internet plans. I’d recommend at least the 32 GB iPad. As I’ve begun to use my iPad more for work, I’ve noticed that I have a lot less space left over for movies, songs and video games.

I have a few movies stored on my iPad and a couple of games. With all the apps and files that I have, I only have a few GB free. The next iPad I get will probably have more storage, but I think this amount should be good for at least a few more years.

I use the standard iPad smart cover in gray. I find that it works pretty well and does a good job of protecting the screen. It does sometimes fall off when I’m holding it, and it offers no protection for the backside. But, it is the best case I’ve found when it comes to the ability to easily take the case off.

If I’m just lounging around a comfortable chair or sofa, I don’t really want the case on. More heavy duty cases are often too hard to regularly pull off.

The three main things I use the iPad for are reading, writing and surfing the Web. I start and edit a lot of my posts on my iPad. No, it’s not a good device for writing long-form journalism or books, but it’s perfectly good for writing 500 words or so.

The iPad is also a great device for getting ideas down and finishing them off when I get back to my desktop computer. The first 150 words of this post were typed on my iPad when the idea struck me, and now I’m fleshing out the post on my Mac.

You never know when an idea will strike, and I’m much more likely to start writing now that I have a good iPad (and iPhone) workflow that seamlessly integrates with my main computer.

Writing words

When I first got the iPad, I purchased Pages, which is a pretty good word processing program in the abstract. It has a critical flaw, however: syncing a document between the iPad version and the Mac version of Pages takes a lot of work and is anything but intuitive or seamless. I would not recommend it, and it’s not worth describing the broken process here (a quick note: I would recommend purchashing Pages if you ever need to open and edit Word files, because Pages works really well for that).

Let’s just say that that Pages is nothing like the experience I get with Byword, where I start a file on one device, and it syncs automatically via Dropbox, allowing me to pick up where I left off on another device. All my changes are automatically synced via Dropbox, and I don’t have to do anything to get the latest version of a document.

A big part of what I do is write and take notes, and that part of my workflow will be the main focus of this post. I use several programs for this purpose: Omnioutliner, Byword and Simplenote (note: Simplenote is both an app and a Web service). They each serve a purpose, and I do not like programs like Word that try to be all things to all people.

Simplenote is very aptly named. It’s a great program for taking short notes or writing down little bits of frequently used information. The beauty of Simplenote (and the Mac software that I use to sync with it, Notational Velocity) is that everything is built around search, not some file hierarchy that is easy to lose files in.

Simplenote, because some things you want to make sure you get in writing.

All of my notes are stored in one folder. You can also store your Simplenote files as one big database file, but I don’t recommend this, as it ties you into the Simplenote ecosystem, which may not be around forever. Also, by storing your Simplenote files as individual text files, any program that can open text files can open Simplenote files. This makes it really easy to start a blog post as a note in Simplenote and bring it into a full-fledged writing program such Byword.

Rather than going and hunting around my file system for information, I just search for what I’m looking for in Simplenote. I store all kinds of little nuggets of information that I know I’ll need at some point in the future. It’s incredibly helpful.

I store building codes, for instance, in my notes folder. If I want to know how to access the gym, I just search for gym or building codes and the information is right there for me. Or if I need to know where certain files are stored on my work’s server, I have a note just for that information.

My work also has several different wifi networks, depending on which building and floor. I have a note with login information for the networks. I just type in wifi and the note comes up (and don’t worry, Simplenote supports encryption).

I also use Simplenote to jot down ideas for articles and blog posts that I’m writing. It’s a good program for quickly getting ideas down. But I don’t like it for more structured writing. That’s where Byword comes in.

Byword is my favorite writing program for a fey key reasons: There are Byword clients on both OS X and iOS, it is easy to sync between all of my platforms, the program itself is gorgeous and minimal and the software isn’t larded up with features that get in my way and distract me.

Byword is beautiful. Just me and my words.

Take a look at Word sometime and ask yourself is that a writing environment that inspires creativity? It looks like something designed for making corporate memos. Byword’s beauty and simplicity focuses on your words only, letting you create your own palette with your words.

I simply write more and am a better writer in Byword than I am in Word. If you’re a writer, you should like your writing program. You should enjoy the actually experience of writing in it. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Syncing is the reason that I selected Byword as my main iPad writing program. Any writing program that doesn’t sync with a personal computer OS is fairly useless for me. The days of device silos are over. I have little need for creative software that ties me to a specific device class.

I do most of my writing on my Mac, but I find that the iPad is a good device for doing a final read. I’m no longer sitting at a desk, staring at the same monitor that I have been for hours. With Byword, I can take my iPad, go grab some coffee, lounge around on a sofa and do my final read in a totally different atmosphere. I find that being in a different state during the editing process makes it easier to catch mistakes made during the writing process.

For me, Byword for the iPad ends up being the program that I often start a post on and where I finish a post. The middle, where most of my words are written, is done on my Mac. This post will follow that arc as well.

The last main pillar of my iPad setup is Omnioutliner, which is a great program for making structured outlines. I have yet to find a better program on any platform for taking notes. Simplenote, as the name implies, is for simple notes and tiny bits of information, whereas Omnioutliner is for taking really great notes and making them into a cohesive outline.

People use Omnioutliner to outline how a book will go or to take notes for a class over an entire semester. Omnioutliner has an incredible amount of formatting control and is extremely fast for indenting and outdenting. Whereas Word annoys the user by trying to guess what the user wants to do with an outline, Omnioutliner does no such thing and instead gives the user full control over how an outline will look and feel.

Like your outlines with Roman Numerals? Go for it. Like your outlines with letters? With numbers? Want a custom combination depending on which level of indentation you are on? Omnioutliner supports it all.

Omnioutliner is my go-to program for taking notes during meetings. Even on the iPad’s software keyboard, I am able to type fast enough to take meaningful notes during meetings. I’m not sure if I’ll be using the Mac or iPad version (with an external keyboard) of Omnioutliner for note taking for grad school, but it would be nice if the two versions synced with each other.

Omnigroup has said that they are working on making Omnioutliner sync between the Mac and iPad versions, but that isn’t here today. The biggest knock on Omnioutliner is that it lacks this syncing. It’s not a deal breaker for me because there is no program anywhere near the capability of Omnioutliner on the iPad that does support syncing.

Keeping my life in order

The iPad is my key life and project management tool.

I find that the built in calendar program on the iPad is fine. It syncs with both Mac and PC calendaring software and can work with a lot of people’s corporate calendaring systems. It also syncs with Web calendars offered by Google and others.

For project management I use Omnifocus, which is ostensibly a GTD (Getting Things Done) program, but it doesn’t have to be used in such a way. Think of it as a very powerful to-do list app. It helps you plan out projects and work and execute them.

This is a very basic way to use Omnifocus. It’s great for staying on top of projects. I use it more in depth with more granularity to my steps for work projects.

Omnifocus also syncs with the Mac and iPhone versions, which is a must for me. (although I’d argue that the Mac version is superfluous now, and that the iPad version is by far the best version).

Between calendar and Omnifocus, the iPad and the iPhone really help keep my life in order in a way that a personal computer couldn’t. I have to juggle my day job, work on the Interchange Project, the writing that I do for other organizations and my school work. I’m away from my work and home computers a lot more than I’m away from my iPad and iPhone, and what good is software that can remind you to do something if it’s not near you when you need it?

A big part of what I do is read, and the iPad is my main reading device. Instead of keeping countless tabs and browser windows open, I use Instapaper to to read all those links that I come across during the day but don’t have time to read. I click a little button in my Web browser and the articles and blog posts are sent to my iPad (and iPhone) for reading at a later time.

If reading is a big part of your job, I cannot recommend Instapaper higher. Along the same lines, I keep up with a lot of different sources of information via RSS. Reeder is my favorite RSS reading program, and it syncs between my Mac, iPad and iPhone. The iPad client is really good and it has the ability to tweet out articles that I find interesting, and it has Instapaper integration for stories that I don’t have time to read.

I also recently started using News.me to stay up-to-date on the most talked about stories on my network each day. I usually start my day with breakfast, News.me and Reeder.

Reeder makes for a really great news discovery and reading experience.

The key to making this whole experience work is syncing between my computer and my iPad and iPhone. Without the syncing, and the seamless integration, I wouldn’t do much writing on the iPad.

Syncing

Syncing is a big part of making an iPad workflow work, and without syncing to smartphones and personal computers, the iPad would lose most of its power as a work tool. The two main options for syncing files between an iPad and a personal computer are iCloud and Dropbox.

iCloud only works for OS 10.7 Lion and later. If you have an older version of OS X or use a different OS altogether, iCloud is immediately out as an option. If you can choose between both iCloud and Dropbox, it really comes down to how much of a power user you are. The benefit of iCloud is that it comes baked into iOS, and the first 5 GB of storage — plenty for most document storage — is free.

To me, the choice comes down if you want to view file structures. If you’re used to the traditional file structure format of OS X, Windows and Linux that involves nested folders in different locations on hard drives, Dropbox will just make sense. Using Dropbox is just like using any modern computer from the last few decades. You store files in folders and you can nest folders inside of folders.

If you never really like the whole managing where files go process, iCloud may be the better choice because it has no file structure whatsoever. iCloud associates files with individual programs. Looking for a Pages file to work on? Just open up Pages and search through your list of files. You will only see Pages files; all other files will be out of sight, out of mind.

You don’t have to worry about where a file is stored, and there is a certain simplicity to this that is appealing. If I know I’m looking for a certain Pages file, why am I seeing all of these files that aren’t it from other programs? With iCloud’s method of storing files, if you at least know the program that it was created in, it won’t be that hard to find a file.

The downside of this is that currently iCloud storage doesn’t allow multiple programs to access the same files. Will Byword still be your text editor of choice five years from now? Maybe not, but how will you get those files to be associated with another program?

Apple hasn’t really addressed this issue yet. I suspect that a future version of iOS (perhaps as early as this year) will allow a user to select multiple programs that can open and edit a file. But that’s not the reality today, and we can only make decisions based on today’s realities.

With Dropbox, I can have multiple programs open the same files. Heck, programs that haven’t even come into existence will one day be able to open my files. It is, however, more complex to setup this structure, but it offers a world of flexibility.

I store my Byword files as plain text files, a format that has been around for decades and a format that will probably be around on computers as we know them forever. I’m not concerned that 20 years from now that my files won’t be accessible by modern programs, and because I’m choosing a basic file format, a lot of different programs can open the same files. It is entirely possible that a text editing program will come around next year for the iPad that will blow me away, and I’ll be very thankful that I stored by files as plain text and used Dropbox, allowing my new program to easily begin editing those files.

But Dropbox has some negatives. First, it costs $100 a year for a paid account. If you keep an iPad for five years, that’s $500. That’s a lot of money to spend for the privilege of having more flexibility with how your files are stored.

Yes, Dropbox does give free account holders 2 GB of free storage, which is fine for most document types, and the ability to earn 16 GB more of free space by referring people to Dropbox, but for most people Dropbox still offers less free space than iCloud. And, while clearly not a fault of Dropbox’s, Dropbox can do a lot more than iCloud, and you’re much more likely to eat up your Dropbox storage than your iCloud storage.

Also, more novice computer users may also find the process of setting up Dropbox to be harder than iCloud. I’d recommend setting up folder structures on a personal computer and not on the iPad for instance. To use Dropbox, you’ll need to tie it into a personal computer as well, whereas iCloud can exist just on and iPad and the cloud.

Dropbox, however, does a lot more than just syncing files. It provides a backup for all of the files in my Dropbox folder on my Mac and is my main backup strategy.

Dropbox can back up just about anything (iPhoto databases excluded), whereas iCloud can only backup files from programs that are written specifically for iCloud. As it stands today, iCloud isn’t really a Dropbox competitor, and I would recommend that users at least go with something like Dropbox to back up their important files.

In terms of up-time and reliability, I find Dropbox to be better. I haven’t had issues with either, but Dropbox has years of proven service. If you’re comfortable with traditional file systems, and you’re looking for a way to backup files on your personal computer as well, I recommend Dropbox over iCloud. I personally use both, but Dropbox is the backbone of my productivity syncing solution, whereas iCloud is used for backing up my audio and video files.